Tuesday, September 30, 2008

No Homeland Security without Home-Planet Security

Barack Obama owns one car, a Ford Escape hybrid, an American green machine, a positive symbol of environmental concerns and American patriotism. In contrast, John McCain’s family owns 13 vehicles, including several gas-guzzlers, all of which he proudly embraces, except one - his daughter’s Toyota Prius hybrid, which he hastened to disown - a negative symbol of American patriotism over environmental concerns. And while Joe Biden has no need to prove anything to his eminently unworthy opponent, Sarah Palin had to wrap herself in an American flag to make her point, whether she was wearing fur underneath it or not. All in all, the one common denominator is Patriotism.

Traditionally, patriotism is the rallying cry of American politics. The president - the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military with 50% ($650 billion) of the $1.3 trillion annual global military budget at his beck and call (e.g. vs China’s $8 billion) - is not called “the most powerful man on Earth” for nothing. By traditional definition, his/her top commitment is to the United States, even if the whole world burns. In fact, to exploit this commitment, he would let, or even make, the world burn even hotter, if this could increase the "Security" of his “Homeland” on paper. But in this crucial time of planetary crisis, when all national problems culminate in and converge upon one huge global problem, many old traditions need be left on the wayside. What do the presidential aspirants plan to do with all this power in saving the world of which America is an integral part?

If the candidates has any vision at all, he or she would be talking about creating and leading an international task force to save the global environment and life on Earth. He/she would be rallying the whole world to set aside all differences to collectively fight global warming and secure our children’s future regardless of nationality. But their highest level of thinking as betrayed by their own words so far I’ve heard has failed to transcend the national level on to the planetary realm. At no point have I seen a hint of global leadership. It is still the provincial “Homeland Security” when what the whole world including the U.S. needs is “Home-Planet Security”, without which there could be no security in any homeland of any nation. If international competition is still the order of the day, they would still talk in terms of a new arms race against Russia and/or China and/or even Iran, rather than to see which country could save the planet first and best. The way things are going, what this new crop of power aspirants is striving for is to make sure that on the sinking ship called the Titanic, the stateroom named America is water-tight.

Very well, if they want to talk Patriotism, I’ll talk patriotism. If they want to talk Homeland Security, I’ll talk homeland security. This is what I have to say to the candidates.

Some time in the not too distant future, the United States will be under massive attack. This attack will come from both the west and the east, both the sea and the air. Many American cities will fall, much American earth will be scorched, and millions of American lives will be ruined. The American military will be powerless in the face of this total onslaught. This will be the greatest defeat of any Commander-in-Chief and the worst failure of his/her Homeland Security. When it is all said and done, America will have lost the following cities, in whole or part, to the enemy, starting with Sarah Palin’s own Anchorage and Juneau, plus:

This will take some time to unfold, but it will be inevitable - if the new American president does not do the right thing, much less do the wrong thing, as of 2009. He or she may resurrect or even revitalize the oil-based American economy in the short term, but as Commander-in-Chief he/she will go down in history as the biggest loser ever. If/when this attack comes, it will be inexorable and overwhelming. Future Americans, if America would still survive, will look back and identify President Obama, or President McCain, or President Biden, or, God forbid, President Palin, as not only the worst president in American history, but the worst Criminal Against Nature and Humanity of all time.

The enemy in this case is not Iran, nor China, nor Russia. It is the rising sea level and the sizzling air temperature. Ultimately, “we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.” In the event of a global ice-meltdown - and given the current "business as usual" scenario it will happen - the sea level will rise by some 70 meters or 230 feet which will drown hundreds of cities worldwide. At the same time, the atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will have risen by 10oC/16oF or more which could doom over 80% of all species to extinction; those cities and states not claimed by the sea will have four choices - to be steamed or roasted or baked or fried. In the eyes of future Americans, in fact of all future world citizens, the responsibility will rest squarely on the shoulders of the 44th American president, because with this greatest power comes the heaviest responsibility. It is a make-it or break-it presidency. Of the contenders, Obama could possibly be a make-it president, and McCain less so but still might be, had he not shown the incredibly poor judgment in his choice of a running-mate, but should McCain become president and couldn’t last the full term, his sidekick and successor Sarah Palin, who openly states that global warming is not caused by human action, would prove a break-it president for certain.

Basically, for all candidates, it is very simple. Stop emitting greenhouse gasses now or sooner, and America may avert the attack. Continue guzzling oil and ethanol “business as usual“, and he/she will doom not only America but the whole world to this calamity. So be warned, candidates. Your reputation in history, if history itself can survive, will be up to what you do or fail to do over the next four years - the most crucial four year in human history.

I would still prefer to rise above personal factors and stay with terms like “our children’s future” or “the global environment“, or “life on Earth”, but frankly, I do not trust their sincerity in these more exalted and universal matters. One way or another, I'm just a Canadian who can't even vote, to whom therefore they would not pay the least attention, but frankly, I'm afraid of an American invasion if they manage to wipe out their own homeland.

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About Anthony Marr

Anthony Marr
* has a degree in physics
* is the author of "OMNI-SCIENCE and the Human Destiny" (2003) and "Homo Sapiens SAVE YOUR EARTH" (2008)
* 1995, he cleaned up N. American Chinatowns of endangered species medicines
* 1996, he led "the highest-profile anti-trophy-hunting campaign in Canada" (Globe and Mail).
* 1997-1999, he worked in 3 tiger reserves in India.
* 1999, he founded Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE).
* 2004/2005, he conducted operations in Japan against whaling and dolphin slaughter.
* 2003-2011, completed 7 Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE tours, each covering 30-45 states over 4-7 months), and spoke at the National AR Conference every year
* 2009, he founded the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
* 2010, he won the Henry Spira Grassroots Activist Award.
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.facebook.com/AnthonyMarr001
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.AnthonyMarr13.wordpress.com
www.Dying-for Salvation.blogspot.com